For thousands of weary travellers every day the sight of the Tyne Bridge is a welcome sign they are back home.

Building work on the bridge began in July 1925 and it was officially opened in October 1928.

And as part of the anniversary celebrations, Newcastle City Council is trying to track down anyone who worked on the most famous symbol of Tyneside.

A spokeswoman for the council said: "We feel this is one of the last chances we have of getting together people who were involved in the construction.

"We want to find as many as possible to celebrate this event."

Julia Fox's grandfather, dad and two uncles all worked on the Tyne Bridge.

Julia, 59, of Heworth, Gateshead, said: "I can't go over the Tyne Bridge without looking up and thinking of them all working on it.

"I have a picture of them all sitting on the struts mid-construction and I always think of that picture when I pass.

"It feels good knowing that my family helped build it.

"I look at the joists and the bolts and I think someone in my family might have put them there."

She added: "The Tyne Bridge is an amazing symbol of the North East and I feel proud that my relatives had roles in its construction." It has gone down into folklore in the North East that the Tyne Bridge was built before the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but in fact the Australians began work more than a year earlier.

Contractors Dorman Long of Middlesborough adapted their existing Sydney Harbour Bridge design to a smaller scale for Newcastle, which cost #571,225.

The bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson and its official name is the King George V Bridge.

Dorman Long commissioned a series of photographs capturing each stage of the work on the bridge.

King George V and Queen Mary officially opened the Tyne Bridge on October 1928 and the speech George V made was the first sound made by a member of the Royal Family to be broadcast.

The BBC even commissioned a radio programme to mark the event.

The Dorman Long photographs which document the construction of the Tyne Bridge are currently permanently housed at the Side Gallery, which sits under the north side of the bridge.

*Anyone who worked on the construction of the Tyne Bridge or who knows anyone who did is asked to contact Sarah Knapton at the Evening Chronicle on (0191) 201 6269.